hate hackers. They have caused me too many problems. had problems with my mums computer because a hacker got in2 our system just 2 find out my friends phone number. How childish is that? It will never happen again, and am looking in2 what can do about people like this, especially as work in a Solicitor/Lawyer company.

will try 2 stop people doing this 2 other people.

What do these people get out of doing this 2 people's computers?

Have they not got anything better 2 do with their time?

Veronica said:

It's about the challenge.
Can they do it?
Keep from getting caught.
Writing the programs etc...

It's tough for nerds like that who know they'll never get laid so they take there frustrations out on the innocent.

I work in a law office 2

buy a router to conceal you IP address and a firewall to prevent hack attempts. you'll feel better and your data will be more secure.

i agree with you on the subject of hackers. they're like someone who stands close behind you at the ATM to check out your PIN number so's they can use it themselves later for some perv reason, or someone who snoops through your personal files when you're out of the house. i guess i kind of (almost) understand how the challenge of hacking into someone else's life would appeal to some of the lesser-brained people in the world, but imo it'd be infinitely more admirable if they'd get lives of their own instead of being such parasites.

I have a firewall...btw..

as an aside - i read on MSNBC that some (all?) of the internet service providers have decided that they will give themselves the power to mandatorily 'offline' computers that have been infected with worms and viruses and are relaying spam over the internet, even though the owners of these computers may be unaware that their computer is serving as a slave to another computer. apparently the next thing will be that the internet service providers will refuse to allow the owners of these computers to log on until their computers have been 'cleaned up'.